Australia

The Australian Foreign Minister isn’t budging on her country’s tough stance on the detention and deportation of New Zealanders. Julie Bishop was in Auckland yesterday for formal talks with her New Zealand counterpart, Winston Peters. The New Zealand Government has previously raised concerns about New Zealanders being treated unfairly as a result of Australian immigration policies that mean non-citizens can ...

The religious freedom review headed by Philip Ruddock has started secret hearings with evidence taken in private sessions, despite a commitment in January to be “as open as possible in its approach to submissions”. Ruddock has brushed off concerns that the process of private hearings reduces transparency, telling Guardian Australia “it’s not a trial” and the panel was more likely ...

The financial aspects of the Turnbull government’s plan to turn Australia into an arms exporting powerhouse are baffling, a leading defence expert says, but the decision to promote defence products overseas is welcome. Andrew Davies, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s director of defence strategy, said the Coalition’s plan to use a $3.8bn fund to underwrite an expansion of arms exports made little ...

Voters think cost of living pressures, particularly energy prices, have increased over the past 12 months, and a majority of Australians earning below the average weekly wage believe their income is going backwards, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. The new poll, which maintains the 2017 trend of Labor in an election-winning position on the two-party preferred measure (54% to the Coalition’s ...

Malcolm Turnbull has unveiled an “ambitious, positive plan” to make Australia one of the world’s largest weapons exporters. Unveiling the new “defence export strategy” on Monday, the prime minister said Australia would raise its profile in the international arms trading game by helping private firms sell weapons in “priority markets” such as the Middle East. Military budgets are increasing around the world, ...

An Australian woman has been accused of murdering two of her children and torturing a third, in alleged crimes that spanned at least five years. Maree Crabtree, 51, was arrested on Queensland’s Gold Coast on Wednesday. Police allege she killed her daughter, 18, in 2012, and her son, 26, last year. Both had disabilities. Authorities alleged Ms Crabtree was motivated ...

These words were uttered by disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter late last year as he had lunch with former Football Federation Australia (FFA) executive Bonita Mersiades in Zurich. He was talking of course about Australia’s bid for the 2022 Football World Cup. The revelations are contained in Ms Mersiades’ new book, Whatever It Takes: The Inside Story of the ...

Australia’s extreme run of weather this summer continues, with parts of the south-east experiencing a ‘winter wonderland’ as temperatures soar further north. Victoria’s Mount Hotham woke to flurries of snow this morning as temperatures dipped below zero in the state’s high country overnight. Further south, a thick blanket of ice and hail lined the village of Orford, 73km from Hobart, ...

First ODI, Melbourne Australia 304-8 (50.0 overs): Finch 107, Stoinis 60, M Marsh 50; Plunkett 3-71 England 308-5 (48.5 overs): Roy 180, Root 91* England won by five wickets Scorecard Jason Roy hit the highest one-day international score by an England player with a sublime 180 to help the tourists beat Australia by five wickets in the first ODI at the MCG. ...

Attorney general Mark Speakman says there ‘are no present plans’ to amend Anti-Discrimination Act Christopher Knaus The New South Wales government has quietly dropped plans to reform the state’s racial vilification laws, prompting anger from Jewish leaders, ethnic groups and the Labor opposition. The state government had previously pledged to fix the laws, which are widely seen ...